The Supreme Court May Criminalize Immigrant Advocacy
The case could let the government prosecute people for routine legal work or even sympathetic tweets.
By LORELEI LAIRD
NOV 18, 20191:13 PM
Freedom of speech is one of the few issues that could be said to have bipartisan support at the Supreme Court. While the justices might differ as to what exactly counts as “speechâ€â€”money, for example—they agree that it takes a lot for the government to overcome First Amendment objections.
Now the conservative justices have a chance to prove their commitment to that principle.
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up United States v. Sineneng-Smith this term, a case that concerns a little-used provision of immigration law that forbids “encourag[ing] or induc[ing] an alien to … reside in the United States†when the encourager knows that person has no legal status.
The case seems straightforward enough: Immigration consultant Evelyn Sineneng-Smith told her undocumented clients they could stay in the United States under a program she knew had ended. That was fraud, and the government ultimately convicted her for it.
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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/supreme-court-criminalize-immigration-advocacy-sineneng-smith.htmlFixed the url - PeteS in CA
